Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Babylon
We are the youth from the village,
We felt that we needed a place to find each other.
we, the youth of the same generation.
This is not our first place, before we were somewhere else.
We were not the ones who baptized this as Babylon.
Because we frequent this place
people became curious
and the name "Babylon" came from them.
Often, after work, we come here
to take a rest, to have some tea, to talk.
We might even spend the night here
and other things.
When there are foreigners
after greeting our families,
it's in Babylon that we receive them.
Sometimes the ASC needs our services
and they give us certain tasks.
We are the older players
but today, we leave space for the younger ones.
We are behind them, supporting them.
For example, last season
we were the ones to provide security.
Sometimes also we are asked by certain adults in the village
to work in the fields.
So we go, we do the work, and we come back.
We are all drivers
so we are often absent.
We might spend almost 2 months without coming to Babylon.
So our other friends, who are students
stay here.
We are many, we are quite numerous.
We are 9 or 10 people.
There are some from Dakar, Thies, Mbour...
A lot of people hate this place.
They imagine that we are doing, I don't know what.
We have talked about deserting this place
but we have decided to stay here
because after all, it is our home.
If a young girl dares come near here
even for a little chat,
her parents will kill her.
She would never admit that she was here,
because of the reputation that sticks to us,
But it's not true. We are not like they say.
This business of drugs and other stuff,
that's not our thing.
We just find each other here after work,
to talk and to drink tea.